Mumbai: The national executive of the Shiv Sena on Saturday passed a resolution authorising Maharashtra Chief Minister and party chief Uddhav Thackeray to take action against "those who have betrayed the party", but refrained from taking immediate action against rebel leader Eknath Shinde.
The executive, which met here, also passed a resolution that no other political outfit or faction can use the name Shiv Sena and the name of its founder, late Bal Thackeray, even as the Shinde faction, which is camping in Guwahati, said it has named itself as 'Shiv Sena (Balasaheb)'.
"The executive decided that Shiv Sena belongs to Bal Thackeray and is committed to taking forward his fierce ideology of Hindutva and Marathi pride. Shiv Sena will never deviate from this path," party MP Sanjay Raut told reporters in Mumbai.
"It passed a resolution, giving all powers to take action against those who have betrayed the party to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray," he added. A total of six resolutions were passed at the meeting, including one congratulating Thackeray for leading Maharashtra efficiently during the Covid pandemic and for the development works carried out in the last two-and-a-half years, Raut said.
Thackeray, who chaired a national executive meeting with Sena leaders, passed resolutions and moved the Election Commission (EC) to restrain any other political outfit or faction from using the name of Shiv Sena and its founder late Balasaheb Thackeray.
The national executive condemned the rebel MLAs and said the party was firmly behind Uddhav Thackeray.
"Balasaheb (Thackeray) and Shiv Sena are two sides of the same coin and except Shiv Sena, no one can use his name," one of the resolutions read. The executive also resolved that the party will contest all coming local body elections and win.
Notably, Sena veterans Anant Gite and Ramdas Kadam, who are members of the national executive, were absent from the meeting. Eknath Shinde, whose rebellion has created an existential crisis for the Sena, was another member of the executive who was absent.
Dissident Shinde on Saturday alleged that the Maharashtra government has withdrawn the security cover from the residences of 38 party rebels, including himself, and their families, and dubbed the action as "political vendetta", although Home minister Dilip Walse Patil denied any such move.
Shinde, who is currently camping in Guwahati along with the rebel legislators, tweeted a letter signed by him and other MLAs that is addressed to the Chief Minister and Walse Patil.
In the letter, the legislators said CM Thackeray and the leaders of the ruling MVA alliance will be responsible if any harm is caused to their family members.
With tempers running high among Shiv Sena workers, the Mumbai Police have deployed its personnel at the city-based offices of various political parties and leaders, including ministers, MLAs and MPs, and their residences as a security measure, an official said on Saturday.
The instructions to remain alert and to provide security were taken at a meeting chaired by Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, where senior officials including the Joint Police Commissioner (law and order), Additional Commissioners and zonal DCPs were present, he said.
The prohibitory orders issued by the city police under Section 37 of the Mumbai Police (MP) Act in the first week of June, ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, will continue to remain in place till July 10. It bans the assembly of five or more persons at one place.
A police official clarified that he had referred to the Section 144 of the CrPc earlier in the day by mistake, but later clarified that the prohibitory orders are in place as per the section 37 of the Act.
On Saturday, cadres loyal to the Thackerays staged protests against the rebels by defacing their banners, hurling stones, and vandalising the office of an MLA in various parts of the state.With agency inputs